The present invention relates to apparatus, methods and systems for handling and processing waste material.
Organic waste material, such as municipal wastewater or livestock manure, can present problems when generated on a large scale. For example, organic waste material can pose both a health risk and a nuisance. Decomposing organic waste can also release greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide. Organic waste material can also be a potential source of air and water contamination. Thus, strategies for dealing with organic waste in such quantities are needed.
One possible solution for the problem of organic waste material is converting or processing the waste into less environmentally noxious or hazardous forms. Such processes may result in useful products derived from the waste, either by converting the waste to such products or extracting products therefrom. Furthermore, many such processes involve subjecting the waste to controlled processes, thereby allowing control and capture of undesirable by-products, such as greenhouse gases, and isolation of the waste from the environment.
However, compared to other feedstocks, organic waste can be a difficult material to handle and work with during such processes. Typically, waste can be highly heterogeneous in its composition. For example, livestock manure can include significant quantities of indigestible non-cellulosic plant matter (e.g. straw, wood) and hard particulates (e.g. sand, rocks and metal), all of which can be agglomerated with the manure. These extraneous components can cause difficulties in handling, or interfere with mechanical, chemical, and biological processes. Organic waste can also have very high solid content, thereby making it more difficult to handle and convey compared to more liquefied materials.
Although current methods attempt to address the aforementioned and other problems of handling and processing organic waste, these methods have deficiencies. For example, such quantities of organic waste are usually subjected to batch processing, due to the limited capacity of waste that can be handled at a given time. However, batch processing can result in lower efficiency, productivity, or both, due to the need for periodic downtime that results from recharging the batch process with new feedstock, and removal of processed material.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to have apparatus, methods, and systems for processing waste in a more efficient manner.
It would also be desirable to have apparatus, methods, and systems for processing organic waste material to improve handling of said waste material.
It would also be desirable to have apparatus, methods, and systems for removing undesirable contaminants from organic waste material prior to processing.